Gluten-free Chocolate Pretzel Peanut Butter Pie

Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches.  Do you ever feel like "adults" sometimes put you in a box of thinking just because of the people they have previously met who are your age?  Like the Millennials aka Generation Yers have too great of expectations; don't really want to work hard; think that some jobs are below them, but everyone on the Intenet has a different opinion.  I myself hear at least several times a year comments like..."well people your age"..."your generation tends to"...why do we have to be put into a box. Granted we all did basically grow up with the Internet, social media, and were the beginning of everyone really having cell phones, but that doesn't mean I am the same as a friend/co-worker/other 27 year old at a random bar going to a happy hour.  

So, don't judge me for being 27...I really can't control my age.  I can only control my actions, try to get my job done, work hard, try to follow the instructions when baking and preheat the oven to the right temperature, but even then, sometimes I get it wrong. That's when I just have to try and learn from the experience, and try to get it right next time.

Carrot Apple Raisin Dutch Oven Swirl Bread

There are some Saturdays where I wake up, eat some breakfast and start to day dream about what I would like to bake that day.  It is normally after a busy work week, where I haven’t really had a chance to think about what I want to try out over the weekend.  Such was the case with this bread.  It kind of just happened.  My mom had made some really delicious sweet yeast bread over the holidays and I was kind of dreaming about making cinnamon swirl bread, but at the same time I didn't really want to go through all the kneading after trying out Momofuku’s Cinnamon Bun Pie recipe a couple of weeks ago. That’s when I remembered how easy the no-knead Dutch oven bread is. 

Then I remembered, besides always having cinnamon and raisins on hand, that I also had some apples and carrots I really needed to use up.  I was going with the “here goes nothing” if it doesn't work, it’s not the end of the world, sometimes you just have to experiment.  Well it turned out delicious.  The apples bake nicely, the carrots just add great color to the bread, plus I mean you get a little vegetable while enjoying cinnamon swirl bread…there is nothing wrong with that.  The raisins plumped up nicely, but the thing I need to change for next time is add more cinnamon sugar swirl.  Otherwise it turned out great.  I even tried making “rolls” out of some of the dough, which really turned into more of a scone/English muffin because of the airiness of the dough.  I will definitely be making this one again though, and you couldn't ask for an easier bread recipe.  Enjoy!

2013 in Review...

I am going to take this post back to the way I started this blog with things I have learned over the past year...in baking and in life, while throwing in some humor to this list with  dumb/embarrassing moments from the past year.

Things learned in 2013:

In baking...

1. Trying to make 150 cupcakes in a one bedroom small apartment with a galley kitchen, plus a 3-layer cake is not a great idea.  You end up with cupcakes everywhere...including on the fireplace mantel.

2.  Sometimes for reasons still unknown cakes fall and turn to mush after being taken out of the oven.  As in you tested the cake in the middle, the tooth pick came out clean...then you go to cut the cake and the center still looks a little like cake batter.  If you know why this happened, please tell me.  My only guess was the frosting was crazy moist and I put a lot of it in the center of this cake...causing it to make the cake too moist in the middle?

3.  Every one's tastes are truly different...just because I may not really like what I baked does not mean that someone else won't love the flavor and texture.  Such was the case with the gluten-free holiday twist on the seven layer bar.  It goes both ways though too...just because I think its great doesn't mean someone else isn't taking a bite and throwing it into the trash.